Inside The Thick Cover
by Sir Espeon
Summary: Helen was just a lonely nerdy Cactus living a miserable life. But when Max, her best friend invited her to prom, her life changed for good. DISCLAIMER: I don't own PvZ, Popcap does. I only own this plot.


Inside the thick cover

 **The idea of this one-shot literally just popped up in my head when I was on my holiday in CA so I decided to write it for you guys to enjoy. Flame me if you feel like this is a bad fanfic. I will try to learn from my mistakes.**

 **I suggest listening to 'How did I fall in love with you' by Backstreet Boys while reading this. It's one of my favorite songs and I think it kinda fits with this story's plot.**

 **Enjoy! :)**

Helen was just walking home after a long day at school. The afternoon sun shone through her thick pair of glasses. She slowly took steps by steps back home.

"Another day passed..."

She thought to herself.

Helen lives a really miserable life. She likes reading a lot of books and other plants think that she's a huge nerd because of that. Also, because of her being a cactus, none of the other plants around actually wanted to talk to her. So none of them actually befriended her. This makes her parents and teachers really worried. They tried talking to her about it but she just ignored them. Her only friend is Max, a peashooter who is one of her classmates and her sprouthood best friend. He is like a brother to her. He helps her with everything she needs and is always there to protect her from bullies. Because of this, she cannot help but developing some feelings towards him.

As she continued walking home, someone came up to her from behind.

-Hey Helen.

It was Max, he was also walking back home from school. His house is only across the street from hers so they always walk home together.

-Hi Max. What's up?

Max walked closer to her.

-Oh nothing much.

They continued to walk silently down the streets of Suburbia.

Helen could not help but notice that her best friend was acting really strange. He kept on staring at her and zoned out. And every time she looked at him he quickly turned away. He also clenched his leaves together like he was feeling worried about something.

-Are you okay Max?

He jumped a bit and answered.

-Yeah... I'm... I'm fine...

Helen raised her eyebrows in an unimpressed way.

-Really? You are acting really weird you know? Do you have something to tell me?

He clenched his leaves even more.

-Actually I do have something to tell...

She gave him a 'go on' gesture.

-Helen, would you...

He was interrupted by Helen being pushed and away fell onto the sidewalk.

-Out of my way you nerd!

Two sunflowers who pushed Helen passed through. Helen, who was on the ground tried to find her glasses and stand up. Her faced showed a hint of tears. She is always bullied and she's getting really upset about it.

Seeing this, Max immediately offered her a leaf and helped her find her glasses.

-Excuse me ladies.

The two sunflowers turned back to look at him.

-Oh hey Max. What is a hottie like you doing around this loser?

A sunflower came up and tried to seduce him. This made Helen wanted to throw up.

-Sorry, but don't you girls think you owe her an apology?

The sunflowers' expression changed from seductive to confused.

-What do you mean?

-I mean you two should at least apologize to her. You pushed her.

The two sunflowers smirked.

-Apologize to her? Please Max. We know that you're a gentleman but this is too much. Anyways, see you at the prom Prince Charming.

They said while winking at Max and kept on walking away. Max sighed loudly.

-You tried Max. Those 'basics' don't worth you worrying about.

He turned to Helen with a sad look on his face.

-But they...

He was cut off by his friend.

-It's okay Max. I really didn't bother.

He sighed again. He knew that Helen was clearly lying but he decided shook it off.

They continued walking home silently.

-So what was it that you wanted to tell me earlier?

Max's heart almost jumped out of his rib cage. He really thought that she forgot about that.

-Oh... well... I was asking if... you would...

-Would what?

Helen asked curiously. Max rubbed his bulb wondering if he should ask her this or not.

-Would you go to the prom with me Helen?

Helen's eyes widen. She didn't really care about the prom all that much because nobody ever asked her to go with them. And now she's shocked that Max asked her this.

-The prom? You mean...

-Like friends of course!

Max immediately cut her off. They stared at the ground awkwardly for a moment before Helen breaking the silence.

-Sure. Why not? I hope it's gonna be fun.

She tried to stay 'cool' so he didn't know how happy she was when he actually asked her to go to prom with him. She has a huge crush on him that he didn't really know. She had never mentioned it because she scared that it would ruins there friendship and that's the last thing she wanted in her already miserable life.

-Great. What time should I pick you up?

Max also acted cool so Helen didn't know how excited he was when she accepted.

How about seven thirty?

-Okay. Seven thirty then.

Before they knew it, they were already in front of Helen's house.

-Bye Max. See you later.

Helen said as she waved at him and entered her house.

-See ya Helen.

Helen walked into the kitchen with a big smile on her face.

-Oh. What's up with the good mood dear?

Her father, who was a Chomper asked her while he was reading his newspapers.

-Oh, Max asked me out on prom!

-Oh that's great dear!

It was her mother. She was preparing snacks behind the counters.

-Ooh, looks like someone got a date!

Helen quickly turned to her dad.

-Dad! It's just friend to friend. Max didn't mean to take things romantically.

Her parents exchanged glances and chuckled.

-Oh, you can tell that to your mother. She got the same invitation to the prom like you do and now we are already a family. Don't you think that Max is gonna take this prom with you as a friend.

Helen sighed and rolled her eyes.

-Fine dad. Say whatever you want, because I'm not buying any of it.

She walked up the stairs to her room. Her mother followed her upstairs to help her get ready for the prom. Since she didn't have time to prepare, her mother let her used her old dress that she had been keeping for years. It was a delicate yet simple white dress and it really fitted her. Helen refused to put on any makeups because she said that it was only Max, they weren't going on a date or anything. She took off her glasses and put on her contact lenses. Then, she put on her dance shoes and she was ready to go. Looking into the mirror, Helen couldn't recognize herself. She felt much more natural without her sunglasses, much more graceful with these dancing shoes and much more delicate with this dress on. Just as she finished, the doorbell rang and she heard her mother shouted.

-I'll get it!

Then Helen heard her mom saying hi to Max and said that she's going down in a minute. She decided to leaved the room and slowly stepped down the stairs. She could see Max's eyes focused on her with every steps she took. When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Max offered her his leaf which she shyly accepted.

-You two have fun at prom. But keep her safe okay Max?

Helen's dad told Max.

-Of course Mr Turner.

They headed outside and towards the school prom. Though they didn't realize, they were still holding each other's leaves the whole time.

Hey Helen, you know you look really...

-Really what?

Helen asked softly.

-Beautiful.

She blushed hard when she heard him saying this.

-Geez, thanks.

Max cracked her a charming smile. And they continued making their way towards the prom.

They arrived at the prom. Some eyes in the crowd stared at them as they were asking what the heck is nerd like Helen doing with a guy like Max at the prom. But they didn't care though. Max found Helen a sit and told her to sit while he go fetch them a drink. As Max disappeared into the crowd, two familiar figures came up to Helen. They were the sunflowers from earlier.

-What the heck is a nerd like you doing here?

One of them asked with a disgusted tone.

Helen tried to answer back with a confident voice.

-Oh, I'm here with a friend of mine.

The two sunflowers looked at each other for a second and bursted out laughing.

-Which pathetic loser would go with you? Another one of those nerds?

They said while laughing out hard. They did not know that Max was standing behind them with the drinks that he just got for Helen and him.

-Well, I think you can consider me as a nerd. I do play a lot of video games.

The sunflowers turned around to see Max standing there with a smirk on his face. Their eyes slowly widened at this. They turned to look at Helen and then Max again. They just couldn't believe that Helen would be able to go to prom with Max.

-Here's your drink malady.

He handed a glass of grape soda to Helen.

-Thanks Max.

Helen gently took the glass and took a small sip in the absolute surprise of the two sunflowers.

That's when the music changed from funky music to a classical waltz. Max immediately held out his leaf to Helen.

-May I have this dance?

Helen was surprised by his offer but she still shyly took his leaf. He pulled her out onto the dance floor and started leading the moves. Helen could feel Max's gracefulness by the way he lead here through the dance floor. With every graceful movements, Max pulled Helen closer to him. And when the dance stopped, he pulled Helen in right next to him, their faces were an inch apart. Helen tried to pulled away but Max held on tight.

Helen, I want to ask you something.

Helen finally got away from Max's leaves.

-Sure, what is it?

Max hesitated for a moment and then look straight into Helen's green eyes.

-Helen, can I have the honor of being your... boyfriend?

Helen widened her eyes in surprise.

"Is Max really asking this?"

-Max... I...

Max's face turned dark.

-I know. It's weird and all that. So why don't you forget about this and just be friends okay?

Helen immediately cut him off.

-Max, I would love to be your girlfriend.

He turned to look at her. The surprise clearly showed on his face.

-Really?

Helen smiled at her friend. He can be really awkward sometimes.

-Really, I love you Max.

Max held Helen's stem and pulled her in for a kiss.

He closed his eyes and felt her lips on his. They were soft and sweet just like her. After a minute, they pulled away to breathe, not noticing envious eyes from many other girls around them. Max gave Helen the most charming smile and a soft look. Helen smiled back at him before giving another kiss. At that moment, nothing else mattered, not the bullies, not even her loneliness, the only that mattered was Max, the boy-plant that she fell in love with.

 **Tell me if you guys like these types of fanfics or more serious and longer ones so I know which one I should focus on more. You probably would have noticed this but the new forum for PvZ is created so I hope you guys can support it as much as possible!**

 **Also, don't forget to review!**

 **Anyway, asiandude's out. CIAO!**


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